Officials of Algerian club USM Alger have played down chants from the side's fans about Saddam Hussein at a match over the weekend that prompted a political crisis.

The Iraqi Air Force side, Nadi Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Al-Riyadhi, abandoned the Arab Club Champions Cup quarterfinal against USMA at Omar Hamadi Stadium in Algiers on Sunday, walking off the pitch with 18 minutes to play, after the home sides' fans repeatedly chanted the name of the late Iraqi leader and reportedly also delivered anti-Shiite...

Iraqi football officials are confident that former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson will sign up to lead the country at next year's Asian Cup finals, according to Reuters.

Eriksson met with representatives of the Iraq Football Association in Istanbul this week and Reuters cites a federation source as saying the Swede had agreed to take charge of the team. The source said the matter would be discussed further by the federation on Monday.

Sources close to Eriksson, however, told Reuters that the...

Iraq wants FIFA to lift its ban on competitive home internationals, the country's sports minister has said.

The ban was imposed following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, but the Iraqi authorities hope that the hosting of Gulf football friendlies in renovated grounds will mean it can be lifted entirely.

The FIFA ban, which covered everything except local matches, was lifted in 2012 but reimposed after a match between Iraq and Jordan was hit by a power outage.

It has been relaxed to allow Iraq...

CHANGSHU -- The hopes of Malaysia making a positive start to the AFC U23 Championship in China suffered a serious blow in their opening game on Wednesday evening as Ong Kim Swee's side were on the wrong side of a 4-1 thrashing by a ruthless Iraq.

Safawi Rashid scored late in the game for the Southeast Asian side, but it was little more than a consolation.

Goals from Mohammed Jaffal, Amjed Attwan, Alaa Mwahi and Hussain Ali gave the nation from west Asia all three points in the Group C encounter.

With...

CHANGSHU -- Ong Kim Swee believes his Malaysia team can spring a surprise during the country's debut appearance at the AFC U23 Championship as they prepare to play former champions Iraq in China on Wednesday.

Malaysia face a potentially daunting task having been drawn to take on Saudi Arabia and Jordan as well as the Iraqis, and the step up in class is not lost on coach Ong as he readies his team to face the 2013 winners.

"We can't deny that Iraq is a very good team, based on their record in youth...